The Alamosa Trail

Chapter 5

When Chad Taylor awoke, he had no idea where he was. He knew he wasn’t in the bunkhouse. When he felt the woman stir beside him, he remembered. He, his brother, Hank, and their pals Ken Keene, Gene Curry, and Eddie Quick were heading for El Paso in response to a telegram they had received from Jim Robison and Frankie Ford. The telegram offered employment, which the five cowboys had been without since the big winter freeze.

With their newfound fortune, gained through the horse race, the boys were almost ready to forget El Paso, or at least delay getting there while they celebrated with, as Eddie put it, “wine, women, and song.” Then, with a laugh, he had added, “But for my token, you can leave out the song.”

That was how Chad happened to wake up in a bed with a woman who was at least ten to fifteen years older than his own eighteen years. Because she was sleeping with her mouth open and a small string of spittle dribbling down her chin, Chad could see that she was missing a couple of teeth, while a third was broken. He wondered what there was about her that had attracted him last night. He closed his eyes, then opened them again, but her looks didn’t improve. Surely the woman he had paid his two dollars to was younger and better-looking than this woman. Perhaps the one he had brought upstairs slipped away during the night and her place was taken by this creature.

His musing was interrupted by a loud and insistent pounding on the door. He heard his brother, Hank, shouting at him.

“Chad! Chad, you still in there? Wake up and get out here. Someone’s done stole our poke!”

Springing out of bed, vaguely aware that the woman beside him was now stirring, Chad hurried into his clothes, then bolted out the door, carrying his boots and still buttoning his fly as he confronted his brother. “Are you sure?”

Gene, Ken, and Eddie were in the hall with Hank, looking as agitated as he was.

“Eddie, he’s teasing, isn’t he?” Chad asked as he pulled on first one boot, then the other.

Eddie shook his head. “No, kid, he ain’t. I’m the one discovered it. I got restless this morning and went down to the livery to check on our horses, and got no farther than one foot in the door when the liveryman told me we had been robbed. So I turned right around and come back here for you fellas.”

“Come on,” Gene said. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

The five young men raced down the stairs, their boots clomping noisily on the steps. Then they ran out of the saloon and up the street toward the stable. Chad’s head was spinning by the time they got there.

The liveryman was standing in the doorway, obviously expecting them and looking defensive. “I can’t tell any of you no more than I already told this fella,” he said, indicating Eddie.

“Well, you ain’t told us,” Hank said. “So tell it again.”

“Like I said,” the liveryman began, “I come in here this morning and seen stuff scattered all over the ground—carpetbags, bedrolls, saddlebags. When I seen that, I knew someone had broke in last night and went through ever’ one’s belongin’s.”

“Mister, we had near three hundred dollars in them saddlebags,” Gene growled. “I thought you was supposed to look out for things that was left here with you!”

“Three hundred dollars?” the liveryman gasped.

“That’s right. And it was left in your safekeeping.”

“This here ain’t no bank,” the liveryman retorted. “You ought to’ve had more sense than to leave money here. What do you think that sign is for?” He pointed to the wall, which displayed a large painted sign declaring, THIS ESTABLISHMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR HORSE AND TACK ONLY. NO OTHER VALUABLES TO BE LEFT HERE.

“Oh, damn,” Ken said. “I didn’t see that sign last night.”

“Didn’t none of us see it,” Eddie said. “Wouldn’t surprise me none if the son of a bitch didn’t even put it up till this mornin’.”

“I assure you, that sign has been up all along,” the liveryman sputtered. “You can ask anyone in town, if you don’t believe me.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Hank said, disgustedly.

Dejected, the five cowboys saddled their horses, then rode out of town.

“Damn, we’re no better off now than we were last week,” Eddie said.

“We’re worse off,” Ken replied. “Last week we had what was left of our pay.”

“That’s true.”

“It could be worse. At least we got that telegram offering us a job,” Chad said.

“Yeah, I reckon so,” Gene agreed. “But it galls me to have to show up in El Paso without a dime to our name.”

“Maybe we won’t have to,” Eddie suggested.

“You got any way of gettin’ around that?” Gene asked.

“I might have if you boys are game.”

“I’m game,” Hank said. “Whatever it is, I’m game.”

“Me, too. Less’n it’s robbin’ a bank,” Ken added with a chuckle. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

“I’m not talkin’ about robbin’ a bank,” Eddie said. “I’m talkin’ about robbin’ a train.”

“What?” the other four boys shouted as one.

“You gone plumb crazy, Eddie?” Gene asked. “A train’s worse than a bank. At least a bank is sitting still.”

“The train will be sitting still, too,” Eddie said. “If we do it right.”

“If we do it right?” Ken scoffed. “Tell me, Eddie, just how the hell do you rob a train right?”

“It can be done,” Eddie insisted.

“I didn’t ask if it could be done,” Ken said. “The James boys have robbed enough of ’em to show that it can be done. What I want to know is, how do you do it right?”

“Well, for one thing, we do it different from the James boys.”

“Why? Seems to me like they were pretty successful with it.”

“Yes, but they also did it so many times that they got famous for doin’ it. I only want us to do it one time, just to get the money back that we got stole from us. Hell, there ain’t nobody knows us around here, and we ain’t never done nothin’ like this before, so there ain’t no way anyone’s ever goin’ to know who it was.”

“I don’t know,” Ken said. “Seems to me like folks could get themselves killed doin’ stuff like that.”

“Not if we’re real smart about it,” Eddie insisted.

“If we were real smart about it we wouldn’t be doin’ it in the first place,” Gene said.

“Chad, you ain’t said nothin’,” Eddie said. “What do you think about the idea?”

Chad had been listening in absolute shock. His brother and his friends were discussing the idea as if it were a real possibility, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What do I think about holding up a train? The idea scares me to death. I hope you aren’t serious.”

“Oh, yes, I’m serious all right. And I know how to do it so that nobody gets hurt. Nobody on the train, and especially not one of us. I can guarantee it!”

“And just how can you guarantee it?” Gene asked. “What is this plan you have?”

“Gene, why are you even asking?” Chad said. “Don’t listen to his plan! Can’t you see that you’ll just encourage him into thinking you’re interested?”

When Gene didn’t answer him, Chad appealed to his brother. “Hank? Tell him! Tell him this is a crazy idea!”

“Well, now, maybe it won’t hurt just to hear what he has to say,” Hank said.

Chad let out a long sigh of defeat and turned his head away to stare off into the distance. Eddie, encouraged by the interest of the others, started his explanation, and Chad could tell by Eddie’s words and the tone of his voice that, in his mind, the proposal had already won acceptance. He was beyond trying to talk them into it, and was now explaining how it would be done.

“It’ll be a snap,” Eddie said. “All we have to do is pick us out a water tower that’s not near a town or anything. Then we’ll wait for a night train to come along. We don’t even have to do nothin’ to stop it, just wait for it to stop for water. It bein’ a night train, all the passengers will be asleep, so none of them will be any problem. Now, when the train stops, we knock on the door of the express car and get them to open the door. All them express cars got safes, and you got to figure that every one of ’em’s got from three to four hundred dollars in ’em. The folks inside the express car won’t be expectin’ nothin’, ’cause train robbers don’t generally brother with that little amount of money. And they ain’t gonna put up no fight where they might get themselves hurt over somethin’ that small. Hell, boys, it’ll be easy as pie.”

“You know, I’ve got to admit, Eddie, that sounds like something we might be able to pull off,” Hank said. “They say the simplest plans is the best. What do you think, Chad?”

“I think it’s a simple plan, all right. And anyone who’d do it would have to be simple. Hank, will you listen to yourself? Do you know what you are saying?”

“Yeah, I reckon I do know what I’m saying, little brother,” Hank replied. “I’m saying I think we ought to do it.”

“Chad, what’s the harm?” Ken asked. “Who’s going to get hurt? What’s a few hundred dollars to a big railroad company?”

“Yeah,” Gene added. “It’s not like we were stealing from some person. I mean, this is a big company we’re talking about, not some poor cowboy who’s worked hard for his money. This ain’t at all like what was done to us. Besides, all we want to do is get our money back.”

“Why are we even worryin’ about it? We got a telegram from Jim and Frank tellin’ us there’s work in El Paso. Let’s just go there and do the job. Make our money the honest way.”

Even as Chad pleaded his case, he knew he had already lost the argument.

“I’ll tell you what, Chad. You don’t have to go with us,” Ken said by way of compromise. “The four of us will do it. You can wait somewhere else and we’ll give you your cut, same as if you had done it with us.”

“Yeah, that’s all right by me,” Eddie said.

Chad felt a cold chill run down his back, and he took a long, slow breath.

“No,” he finally said, speaking so quietly that they could barely hear him. “If you boys are determined to do this, I’m going with you.”

Hank laughed and slapped his brother on the back. “Well, now, wonderful!” he said. “That’s the way it should be. The five of us, riding together.”

The five cowboys sat on their horses in a ditch at the bottom of the track bed. The mournful whistle of the approaching train brought home to Chad Taylor exactly what he, his brother, and their three friends were about to do. Under dripping trees in the dark of night, with a cold rain spitting in his face, Chad tried one more time to talk the others out of it.

“Listen, fellas, I don’t think we’ve considered the real consequences of this,” he said. “We’ve had some fun thinking about it, sure, but it’ll mark us as outlaws for the rest of our lives.”

“Not if we don’t ever do it no more,” Eddie insisted.

“Chad, it’s a little late to be bringin’ that up now, don’t you think?” Hank asked. “You should’ve told us before if you weren’t in favor of doing this.”

“Come on, Hank. What the hell do you think I’ve been telling you from the moment Eddie came up with this crazy scheme?”

“And we told you that you don’t have to go through with it,” Eddie said. “Now if you’re all that squeamish, why don’t you just ride over there in the dark and see if you can’t find yourself a sugar tit or something to suck on while the rest of us men pull the job?”

“Take it easy on him, Eddie,” Hank said. “He’s got a right to feel the way he does.” Hank looked at his brother. “But he’s right, Chad. You don’t have to go through with this.”

Chad sighed. “I reckon I’ll do it,” he said, resolutely.

“You sure?” Ken asked. “ ’Cause we can’t have no more doubts now. It’s too late for that. We’re down to the nut cuttin’.”

“I’m sure.”

“Good man,” Gene said, and he reached over to squeeze Chad on the shoulder. “Listen, I knew all along that he was going to go with us. He’s never let us down before.”

The loud shrill of a whistle indicated that the train was much closer now, and the steadily increasing noise made Chad’s horse stamp its foot restlessly. Chad reached down to quiet his animal.

“Okay, boys, here she comes,” Eddie said, the excitement of the moment creeping into his voice. He laughed. “Ain’t we somethin’? Bet them James boys never pulled off a slicker holdup.”

“We ain’t pulled it off yet,” Hank reminded him.

“We’re about to. Pull your kerchiefs up over your nose, boys,” Eddie said as he followed his own advice. “That way, nobody will be able to describe what you look like.”

Chad stood up in the stirrups of his saddle and looked toward the approaching train. The headlamp was in view, its beam looking like a long yellow finger stabbing through the steadily falling rain. The puffing steam sounded like the gasps of some fire-breathing monster. And as if to add to the illusion, glowing sparks were being whipped away by the black smoke cloud that billowed up into the wet night sky.

“Get your guns out,” Eddie ordered. “Soon as it stops for water, we’ll go up and rap on the door of the express car. In five minutes we’ll be ridin’ away from here with three, maybe four hundred dollars in our poke.”

Vented steam and squeaking metal sounded as the engineer began braking the train. Finally it rumbled and settled to a halt, with the tender poised just below the water tank. All the coach cars were dark, the passengers undoubtedly asleep just as Eddie had said they would be. That was good. Even though Chad had no experience in robbing a train, he was intuitive enough to realize that the greatest danger would come from the unexpected. And if the passengers were awake, the unexpected could happen.

“We made it here none too soon,” Chad heard the fireman say as he crawled out onto the tender. “I’ll bet you there ain’t enough water left in this tank to work up a good spit.” The tank’s lid banged hollowly as the fireman dropped it open, then swung the spout over.

Chad shivered, but not from the cold.

“Here we go, boys,” Eddie whispered. “Hank, you come with me. Rest of you fellas, stay down here in the ditch till they open the door. Soon as they open it, all of you fire a shot off in the air. That’ll let ’em know there’s too many of us for them to fight. They’ll probably pee their pants, but you can bet they’ll give up the money bag. I’ll toss it down here: you fellas throw a few more shots in the air to keep them scared. Then we’ll get the hell out of here.” He grinned. “Simple.”

Chad and the others drew their pistols as Eddie and Hank rode their mounts up to the top of the berm, making as little noise as possible. Down at the bottom of the gravel-covered embankment, Chad pointed his pistol straight up in the air and waited. His hands were sweating, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

Suddenly he heard Eddie rap sharply on the door of the express car and call, “Hey! Hey, open up in there.”

Chad glanced quickly toward the tender, but it was obvious that the fireman had heard nothing. The man’s attention was on the water pouring into the tank, and the water was making such a roar that it covered all the other sounds. The engineer stayed in his cab, surrounded by escaping steam and popping safety valves. Both fireman and engineer were oblivious to the drama being played out below them.

Chad watched as the express car door slid open, a narrow wedge of light growing to a large gap. A man appeared in the gap and looked outside. “What is it? What do you want?” he called into the darkness.

“Okay, let her go!” Eddie shouted, and Chad and the others fired into the air. The flashes of light from the gunshots painted the side of the express car orange, and the vivid scene seemed to freeze in Chad’s brain for his most minute inspection.

“Throw down your money!” Eddie called.

“My God! It’s a holdup! How did they know about the bank shipment?”

“Drop!” a loud voice called from farther back inside the car. The man in the doorway belly-flopped to the floor.

“What the hell is—” Eddie started to yell, but the loud roar and bright flash of a shotgun interrupted him. Chad saw Eddie tumble backward out of his saddle. His face was shot away.

“Oh, my God!” Chad screamed.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Hank yelled. He managed to get his horse turned just before the second shotgun discharge. With that blast, a spray of blood, bone chips, and brain matter exploded from Hank’s head as he went down.

“Hank!” Chad shouted. He started to dismount, but Gene reached over and grabbed him by the arm, physically keeping him in his saddle.

“You want to get killed, kid?” Gene shouted. “There’s nothing you can do for your brother now!”

“Let’s go!” Ken shouted, and he slapped Chad’s horse on the rump.

The horse, already frightened by the shots, needed no further encouragement to bolt toward the rear of the train. Bending low over their horses’ necks, the three men galloped away. Chad was the lightest and the best rider on the fastest horse. Not wanting to abandon them, he actually held his horse in check to keep from pulling away from them.

“There’s three more and they’re gettin’ away!” someone shouted. “Shoot ’em! Shoot the sons of bitches!”

“I used up both barrels! I gotta reload!”

“Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” Chad heard himself crying out. He heard a couple of windows sliding open on the train, then a shot, not from a shotgun, but from a pistol. He didn’t know if it was one of the guards in the express car or a passenger who happened to be armed and wanted in on the action.

When the three riders reached the end of the train, they kept going, following the track bed. The train was eastbound, and Chad, Ken, and Gene were heading west. Chad was reasonably sure that the guards wouldn’t have horses aboard the train, but they couldn’t take the chance. They kept pressing on for a long time to make certain that, if the trainmen did have horses, they wouldn’t be able to catch them.

Finally, after they had ridden at least five miles with no sign of anyone following them, they stopped.

“If we don’t want to kill these horses, we’d better walk them for a bit,” Chad suggested, swinging down from the saddle.

“Yeah, good idea,” Ken said. He looked behind them. “Doesn’t look like anyone is following us.”

Chad felt numb. He began leading Thunderbolt, talking soothingly to his horse but saying nothing to the others. He couldn’t get rid of the picture of the gore spraying from the side of his brother’s head.

“You all right, Chad?” Ken asked.

“No,” Chad said, quietly. “No, I’m not all right.”

“Were you hit?” Ken asked anxiously.

“I wish I had been. I wish I had been killed, along with Hank.”

“No, you don’t,” Ken said. “You don’t really mean that.”

“How the hell do you know what I mean?” Chad snapped back at him.

“Come on, fellas,” Gene said gently. “This is no time for us to be fightin’ among ourselves. I’m real sorry about Hank, Chad. I’m sorry about Eddie, too.”

“Yeah,” Ken added. “Me, too. We shoulda listened to you.”

Chad shook his head, then sighed. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “Eddie and Hank already had their minds made up to do this. I think they would’ve gone ahead and tried it whether we went along with them or not.”

“The thing is, I believed Eddie’s plan was a good one,” Ken said. “You have to know that any normal train that’s carrying no more than two or three hundred dollars, at the most, won’t have guards.”

“Yeah,” Gene said. “It was just our luck that we chose to hit one that was carrying a bank shipment.”

“What’ll we do now?” Ken asked.

“We’ll do whatever Chad wants to do,” Gene said. “He was the only one of us who had enough sense to try and talk us out of the foolish mistake we just made. I’d say it’s time we began listening to him.”

“All right, Chad, what will it be?”

“Like I’ve been saying all along. We’ve got a telegram from Frank Ford and Jim Robison offering us work,” Chad said. “I think that’s where we ought to go now.”

Without a word, Gene remounted, then turned away from the railroad track they had been following, heading off to the left.

“Where are you going?” Ken asked in surprise.

“We’re goin’ to El Paso, aren’t we?” Gene asked. “It’s this way.”